Tuesday, August 28, 2007

okay. so i guess every one of my friends could unanimously say that any one of these houses is the house for me. with old hardwood floors and neat architectural features inside like a brick chimney pipe in the sloped-roofed attic. but to live in these houses means i'd have to live either in seattle, or some place far far north, which would both equal a horrendous commute. i'm already commuting one hour in every direction, and i live 10 minutes from the freeway. we're in the process of buying this aforementioned house. what does a house have to do with my wedding? i had never wanted to live with my future husband before we were married, but moving to another country together doesn't really facilitate it. we've managed for a year, renting separate apartments for $2500 between us, but it's come to the point where i can't stand throwing the money away and would rather sink $2595 into a mortgage. it's not the 1950's anymore: aside from the fact that i didn't spend the last 5 years preparing to be a homemaker living at home with my parents and learning to cook and bake, aside from the fact that i moved out at 16 to go to unversity - we are 150 miles away from the homes we grew up in. my banker was itching to ask the boy about us when he touched on the fact that we'll have two separate bedrooms in the house, and so by the time i saw her today after work she was just bursting to ask me. we float for our jobs, and in canada, that meant we were at a new store with new coworkers every week, and here in the US it means that we're at a new store every day. even people who are 50 years+ who i would have thought to have old fashioned values are flabberghasted that we currently live apart. is no one conservative anymore?

Sunday, August 26, 2007

pin up girls, eh? jenn i think you're a girl after my own heart (or we really do have esp). this montage has been sitting open in my photoshop all night (i somehow fell asleep between that last post and now, don't ask me how). the necklines are quite plunging! i still have very little faith in a seamstress (at least for the price charged, and for something as simple as the very last macy's dress you ladies tried one, considering i basically sew for a living). fabric is a whole 'nother story.....there's really not a whole lot available, and if i make a dress from scratch i'm going to go all bridezilla on you. that being said - anthrolopogie does offer some great things (albiet ill-fitting after your mail order experience) but i don't know that i'd want 3 girls in that floral dress on the far left. it's great and garden party but sickeningly matchy matchy. even the solid on the right has that feel if multiplied by three(perhaps because of the color). if we went the diy way, we could get one fabric and do a dress in 2-3 different ways, ie the far left and the middle.

now the single dress to the left, anthro's crosswinds dress seems almost just like "the" dress. made of breathable cotton, you can wear any bra underneath, and at $88 it somehow sports side pockets.....good or bad i don't know. this seems a step up from some of the starchy target.com-looking things.

Saturday, August 25, 2007

i think my maid of honor and i have some sort of esp - when she commented about posting more dresses, i had been scouring the dot coms for macys and nordstrom! so here's another batch:

i like the 'stuff' on the bottom of #1, just like this betsey johnson number to the left. i like that #2 reminds me of tapestry for some strange reason, and because of the stiff nature of the fabric, it makes me feel somewhat empowered to actual make it myself. i do like #5.

enter again my love for b&w patterns (#10)! see how it worked for this wedding, perhaps particularly well because the pattern wasn't overwhelming and didn't comprise the entire dress; photo at left found at kenziekate.com. i like #9 the best - i like that ...... folded action on the skirt. if #1 were jersey knit, i think it's super cute, and #11 is for sure jersey so hooray for t-shirt fabric? #8 looks like it could be ill-fitting like so many things we've tried on, and #10? i'm glad to see there is a lot more online eye candy for dresses besides the big M and the big N - see kenziekate's bridesmaid posts. i have more to say about vintage and retro dresses but i'll leave that for another post because i've been so busy shopping for a house - see photos of the house we put an offer on. photo montages thanks to the folks at nordstroms.

i don't think i've talked about the lensbaby yet, but let's talk about the tilt-shift! i first found out about tilt shift photography through andrew's make magazine - here's the article about how to make your own tiltshift. flickr has gads of photos, but it's hard to sift through the ones that were born from hours of photoshop and the ones straight off the negative. if you are at all familiar with my naked people earrings, you'll see why i would appreciate how this lens can turn everything into a model trainset. this photo below is via pinboke at flickr. and while a lot of the best pictures seem to be taken from airplanes or by cubicle dwelling, metropolitan business people from their (skyscraper high) office windows, this room is made doll-sized, and this one below seems like it could translate into a great hycroft shot:tilt shift:

Friday, August 10, 2007

i bought a new toy to make myself feel better that costco.com no longer carries the Nikon D200. and for the fact that my lc-a fell apart in my purse last year and i can't seem to justify slamming $200 on another one. my favorite bee over at weddingbee made a post all about the potential in involving lomos in a wedding. this fisheye has a built in flash and a hotshoe for another! i'm so impressed.

andrew and i bought a 30 minute, $80 one of these pocket size camcorders at costco last weekend. i think these would be cool to hand out to each member of the bridal party as a gift with a purpose for the night (or at least for all the boys). we filmed about 20 seconds worth of footage, met up with friends from work for dinner in seattle and then when they asked to see my ring, i promptly extended my left hand and dropped the poor white gizmo on the ground. needless to say it doesn't seem to turn on when we want it to anymore. but it was fun while it lasted, and i may give it a second go with costco's great return policy.